6 Professions that Require BLS Certificate

Professionals in the medical field certify in Basic Life Support or BLS. Doctors and medical assistants need this kind of CPR certification that is linked to their profession. There are people who do not require BLS certification but would need to have CPR training. These people are coaches, teachers, childcare providers, safety officers, and personal trainers. This means that people who are not in the medical field but can do CPR do not necessarily need BLS certification. Verified providers offer courses to get BLS certification online. Here is a list of professions who need BLS certificate.

Nurses and Doctors

Nurses and doctors are required to have BLS certification when they want to practice CPR in the hospital. It is not a top-level certification of life support for them because there is a certification called ACLS or the Advanced Cardiac Life Support. This certification is for those who specialize in emergency medicine and critical care. BLS is a certification that is for all providers of medicine.

Medical Assistants

It is common in hospitals to have medical assistants that have BLS certificates. They work with nurses and doctors, direct medication, record vital signs, discuss medical histories, and gives injections for patients. They are not the first people to respond for emergency cases but they are ready and on hand when needed. So they need to know how to administer rudimentary life support when there is an emergency.

Dentists

When dentists need to renew their dentistry license, they need to have a specific amount of education hours. This includes BLS certification if the Dental Board in the state where they work counts it for education hours.

EMTs and Paramedics

EMTs and paramedics are one of the first response when there is an emergency and they need to provide life support skills to victims. BLS certification is the initial training for those who specialize in emergency care like paramedics. Advanced paramedics have the training of emergency care and life support in advanced levels.

Firefighters

Firefighters are included when you talk about professionals that save lives and they also need BLS certificate. This is because their field of work needs to do emergency care just like EMTs in hospitals. Firefighters who need BLS certificates are the volunteer and the professional firefighters. There are some fire stations that need their firefighters to have paramedic certification so BLS certification is essential to have.

Police Officers

Policemen do not specialize in the field of medicine but they are the first to react in an emergency case. Time is of the essence so police officers must act and provide life support care to the victims until medical help arrives. Requirements for being a police officer depend on the state but it is essential to have First Aid certification, CPR or BLS certification. The difference between BLS and general CPR is that BLS is advanced training and it is accepted by all departments.

If you are a medical professional or your profession requires you to save lives then it is worth to get BLS certification online and to be able to save more lives. It depends on the requirements of your profession but it is worth noting that your resume includes BLS certification.